LG set to launch world’s first rollable smartphone

A smartphone that you can roll up like a piece of paper may have come a step closer to reality. 

According to the latest rumours, LG is planning to release the world’s first commercially available rollable smartphone in March 2021.

The device will include an extendable screen that can be rolled out from inside the main body to create a larger screen for tasks such as watching videos.

The company originally teased the device, known as “B project”, at the end of an announcement video published in September. 

A brief video of the rollable smartphone showed a portion of the phone’s screen extending out from the device which would give people a larger screen for tasks such as watching videos.

LG patented a similar flexible smartphone earlier this year and the company has previously been reported to have produced up to 2,000 test versions of the phone.

Korean publication The Elec reported that the foldable smartphone will be released in March after LG releases a new, standard format smartphone known as “Rainbow.”

It also said that LG is expected to ship around 26 million smartphones in 2020, with the company hoping that figure will rise to 30 million next year.

The business has previously bet on unorthodox smartphone designs as a way to attract customers. Its experimental division released a smartphone, known as LG Wing, earlier this year which includes a display which can rotate 90 degrees to reveal a smaller display underneath.

Rival manufacturers Samsung and Huawei, as well as LG, have all bet on foldable phones to hook in customers, with Samsung releasing two of its Z Fold smartphones earlier this year.

Flexible screens which can be rolled up to save space are beginning to become commercially viable for electronic devices. LG launched a rollable television, the OLED TV RX, last month.

Devices featuring the rollable screens remain far more expensive than standard, non-flexible screens. LG’s rollable television costs $87,000 (£68,000), for example.